Run round to the forehand
Ready when: Fed forehands (b4) self-check met.
What you are learning
Footwork to use the stronger forehand more often: moving round a ball that comes to the middle or backhand side so you can hit it with a forehand, then going back to the middle.
Words on this card Forehand, Baseline, Run round
- Forehand
- Hitting the ball on your racket-hand side, or on the other side.
- Baseline
- The back line of the court, the line that ends the service boxes, and the small mark in the middle of the baseline.
- Run round
- Moving round the ball to hit it with a forehand.
Show it first for the one teaching
- Feed a ball to the middle.
- Step round it in a curve, away from the ball, so it ends up on your forehand side with space.
- Hit the forehand, then side-step back to the middle.
Your part while they practise
Feed to the middle and the backhand side.
Step by step
- Move round the ball's landing point.
- Hit it with a forehand.
- Back to the middle after each.
How much: 10 balls, 3 sets 15 min a session 2 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Deep forehands
Score each run-round forehand that lands deep.
Who plays: the player against their own best; you feed.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Mark a line 3 m inside the far baseline
- Feed 10 balls to the middle and backhand side
- Score each run-round forehand
- 3 sets
- Fair play
- The feeder widens the feed after 5 good ones.
- Points
- 2 points for a forehand landing beyond the line; 1 point for one landing in court.
- Fouls
- No points
- Hitting a backhand instead
- Too close to the ball, cramped
- Not going back to the middle
- Winning
- Beat your best set.
- 8 points for 1 star
- 12 points for 2 stars
- 16 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
Feeds to the middle.
Wider feeds.
What you will see, and what to say
- too close to the ball
Go round, keep space
Curve away first. - stops late
Set feet before the bounce
Set, then swing.
Self-check
6 of 10 run-round forehands in.
Stop and get a coach when
The footwork pattern is unclear.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains footwork.
Intermediate is done when i1 and i2 self-checks are met and i4 has been played.
awiseathlete.com/sports/soft-tennis/soft-tennis-i5